Often it is necessary or desirable to balance the light intensity in one part of a scene with another. This is especially true in situations where you don't have total light control, as in bright contrasty landscapes. Exposing for the foreground will produce a washed-out, over-exposed sky while exposing for the sky will leave the foreground dark and under-exposed. This filter enables cloud detail to be kept correctly exposed in the picture.

Determining which graduated neutral density filter yields ideal results for any given lighting situation takes knowledge, experience and a collection of such filters. Choose the filter strength which adjusts the lighting to stay within the exposure latitude (greatest difference between bright/dark values) which still shows details in both of the digital or film medium in use.

Speaking generally, the 2-stop value (ND 0.6 - the filter's clear portion allows 4x more light to pass vs. darkest portion) effectively compensates average bright sky-to-foreground situations, and the soft transition is applicable more often to a scene than the hard transition.

Formatt, a company with three generations of professional filter-making experience produces every filter to the highest technical standards. The finest materials, together with state of-the-art production technology have resulted in a standard of optical excellence unmatched anywhere else.

Soft/hard indicates the degree of transition.

Note: Blender filters are graduated over the entire length of the filter. Traditional neutral density filters are graduated towards the middle

Benefits

All Formatt filters are manufactured using Water White Schott optical glass that is precision polished and ground to ensure absolute optical flatness and optimum performance

Optically consistent from filter to filter

Neutral Density Filters Have Four Main Uses

To enable slow shutter speeds to be used, especially with high speed films, to record movement in subjects such as waterfalls, clouds, or cars

To decrease depth of field by allowing wider apertures to be used, which helps separate subjects from their background

To decrease the effective ISO of high speed film (above ISO 400) and allow it to be used outdoors in bright situations

To allow cine and video cameras (which have fixed shutter speeds) to film subjects such as snow, sand or other bright scenes which could cause overexposure

Neutral Density Factors

ND.3 (exposure adjustment = 1 stop, reduces ISO by 1/2)

ND.6 (exposure adjustment = 2 stops, reduces ISO by 1/4)

ND.9 (exposure adjustment = 3 stops, reduces ISO by 1/8)

ND1.2 (exposure adjustment = 4 stops, reduces ISO by 1/16)

Formatt Grads are Available in Four Types

Soft Edge - Half clear, half colored with a smooth transition to full density. Generally used with medium to wide angle lenses

Hard Edge - Half clear, half colored with a definite less subtle transition. For use with long focal length lenses

Razor Edge - As hard edge but with a solid transition line for shooting corners of buildings, knife-edge horizons or when a very bold transition is required

Blender - The grad line is right at one edge of the filter so the color change runs from top to bottom. Perfect for irregular objects and skylines